Merido's Daughter by LJ Maas 16 page

Tessa stopped and Casey realized the Karê was waiting for her to continue.

"I...I guess I just want to know if I..." Casey paused and searched the blue eyes looking for some signs of the lover she had come to know. What she did see were eyes that were as filled with pain as her own must have been. "I guess I need to know if I should look for a different apartment in Athens or--"

"Casey, that apartment is yours, to do with as you wish. I 'd like to think you would still use it. I have an old friend who takes care of the place and at least I know you'd be safe there." Tessa replied.

"Thank you." Casey said softly, not knowing what else to say. "Thank you," She repeated, turning and exiting the way she'd come.

"You're welcome," Tessa whispered to an empty room. Looking down at her hands, she realized that they were clenched into fists to keep them from shaking.

"Alex!" Tessa called sharply out the door.

The young man showed up immediately. "What's up, Karê?"

"Come on," Tessa growled impatiently.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked, pulling on his jacket.

"To get drunk."

Casey hadn't been sleeping well, so when the pounding on her door began, she jumped up right away to see who it was. Pulling open the heavy wooden door, Casey found Alex nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"Please, Miss, I need your help...it's the Karê."

"I'll be right out." Casey said as she closed the door. She threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and reopened the door.

Alex spoke quickly telling her about the fights the dark-haired woman had been in at more than one bar this evening. Casey followed the man downstairs as he spoke softly.

"She's in the dining room. She has one of her guns out and she's playing Russian roulette with it."

"Dear, God!" Casey rushed into the dining room to find Tessa loading another bullet into the thirty-eight's chamber.

Casey walked to the table and placed her hand over Tessa's. The seated woman looked up and for a second Casey didn't think the dark-haired woman was going to recognize her. Tessa blinked hard twice and then recognition dawned.

"Please, Niko...don't do this." Casey pleaded softly. It was the first time she used the nickname since their estrangement.

"It's okay," Tessa slurred holding up a bullet. "I only used two."

"Please put away your gun...it scares me."

Tessa looked into Casey's eyes and knew that she was the cause of both of their pain. She looked back down to the small hand that still covered her own and she felt the tears that she couldn't quite keep from shedding lately, return.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. Looking up at Casey once again, she tried to convey the depth of her emotion through her eyes. "I'm so sorry..." she rasped.

Casey could barely stand to watch as the woman she loved literally fell apart in front of her. She slipped an arm around Tessa's shoulder and the dark-haired woman leaned her head slightly against Casey's body. With her other hand Casey easily slipped the pistol from the Karê's grasp.

"Don't take my gun, Casey." Tessa implored weakly.

"I'm not taking it, love. I'm putting it into your holster," Casey flipped the safety on and eased the pistol in the holster at the small of Tessa's back. She patted it gently. "Feel it? It's right where you always carry it. Okay?"

Tessa nodded and Casey began to stroke the long dark hair. She bent down and placed a tender kiss on top of Tessa's head. The Karê slipped her arms around the standing woman's waist and they stayed that way for a long while, Casey whispering a litany of words to calm the seated woman.

"I'm so tired, Casey." Tessa said at last.

"I know, sweetheart," Casey replied, motioning Alex from the shadows to help her. "Come on, love...Alex is going to help us and we'll go to the guesthouse and get you in bed."

Tessa allowed the two to assist her in standing then they slowly walked across the lawn, Tessa leaning heavily on the both of them for support. Once inside the house they deposited Tessa on the bed and Casey removed her holster and shoes and pulled a quilt up over the woman. Casey walked into the living room and began picking up the clothes that the Karê had, uncharacteristically, left strewn about the room, while Alex simply stood there unsure of what to do.

A crash from the bedroom brought the young man out of his frozen stance. He rushed in to find Tessa trying to get out of bed again. Casey rushed to the door, but Alex waved her back.

"I have to get up...I need to talk to Casey." Tessa muttered.

"Hey, Nikki, take it easy, huh? She's already gone, so relax and lay back down, okay?"

Tessa looked past the young man into the darkened living room unaware that Casey stood just outside the opening to the bedroom. "She's gone?" Tessa asked.

"Yea, so what do you say we call it a night, huh?" Alex had coaxed the woman back into bed and she lay there, one arm flung across her eyes.

"Don't ever fall in love, Alex. People in our business aren't meant to fall in love...at least with nice girls. Casey's a nice girl." The Karê's voice broke and tears fell from her eyes.

"You know what the worst part of it is?" Tessa looked absently at the young man as she cried. "I never told her how much I loved her." The dark-haired woman choked on the last few words and she began to cry out loud. "I was too scared...now she'll never know that she is everything to me."

Alex looked back and could see Casey's silhouette standing just outside the bedroom door. He couldn't tell, but he figured it was a sure bet the small blonde was crying too. They must have had one hell of a fight to break up a good thing like they had going. Both of them seemed pretty miserable and he'd never seen Tessa act this way.

"Don't worry, Nikki," Alex responded. "I bet she knows."

"Do you really think so?" Tessa mumbled sleepily.

Alex looked back at the bedroom door and the small blonde was gone. "Yea...I'm positive."

Casey slipped from the guesthouse unable to listen to Tessa's weeping any longer. Her own heart was breaking at the sound. Once behind her own bedroom door she paced the floor, cursing her father. She realized that the cold demeanor Tessa displayed was simply a mask to cover up emotions that the Karê thought would make her appear weak.

Goddamn you to hell, father! You've caused all of this. You are responsible for that woman over there...you made her what she is; made her in your own twisted image the day you murdered her father. It's no wonder she's on the verge of a breakdown. All her life she lived only for revenge, she grew up to be just like you; a cold, heartless killer. Now, she knows that there might be something out there besides power and control and she doesn't know whether to follow her head or her heart. I hate you, Andreas Meridio...I hate you!

The small blonde fell heavily into the cushioned chair, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around her legs. Now that she knew Tessa was so torn between her love for Casey and what she thought was the keeping of a vow, she knew that Olympia's words were true. The older woman seemed so sure of what her daughter's actions would be. Things change, little one. Don't give up on Tessa's heart just yet.

Casey knew that she had to keep Tessa from going through with her hahré. She had to give the woman a chance. She had a feeling that when it came time to place the cards on the table, Tessa would do the right thing if Casey was involved. It would be one thing for the Karê to kill Meridio behind closed doors, and quite another in front of Casey, but it had to be Tessa's decision. She bit her lip and sourly thought about what she would have to do. If she were going to be able to keep her lover from destroying the rest of their lives, then she would have to become involved in the whole situation. As distasteful as it was to her she knew that there was only one way to do that.

The small blonde laid her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes. The last thing to cross her mind before sleep claimed her was that she just chose her lover over her father; the woman that she loved with all her heart over the man that tainted all of their lives with his need for wealth and power. In her mind it became her own form of hahré.

Casey walked into the travel agency with as much authority as she had when she walked through the doors with Tessa. The same dyed-from-a-bottle redhead was sitting at the receptionist's desk.

"Would you please tell Jack Armstrong that Cassandra Meridio would like to speak with him." Casey asked the older woman.

The woman looked over her glasses at the small blonde and smiled politely. "I'm sorry, Miss but there is no Mr. Armstrong that works here."

"I only want to talk to him briefly...I'm sure he could spare me a moment." Casey said between clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, Miss, bu--"

"Look!" Casey hissed slamming her hand down onto the desk and leaning down; to be sure the woman heard her every word. "I want you to walk through that little door right there and walk into the conference room, tap on that pitiful excuse for a two-way mirror, and tell Mr. Armstrong that if I don't see his sorry ass out here in a matter of minutes, I'm going down onto the street to start telling everyone that the Albanian Mafia has an office here. Then I'm going to stand back and watch them burn this place to the ground. Now, what part of that don't you think he'll understand?"

Casey stepped back as the flustered woman rushed through the door of the conference room.

"Well, did you want to see all of me or just my sorry ass?" Jack Armstrong said from where he stood outside the conference room, his arms folded in a gesture of impatience.

"Mr. Armstrong, we need to talk." Casey replied, not budging an inch.

"I think we've done about all the talking we need to, Ms. Meridio. I can't think of anything you could say at this point that could interest me."

"Oh, I bet you're wrong." Casey said and grinned devilishly up at the man towering over her.

"I heard you would have quite a head this morning." Olympia said to Tessa as the dark-haired woman held out a shaky hand for a cup of coffee.

"I can't keep any secrets from you anymore, can I?" Tessa replied with a weak smile.

"It seems I miss all the interesting happenings around here."

"That will teach you to go play cards at the café." Tessa responded.

"Oh, Casey left a message for you this early this morning. She said it couldn't wait, but she had to go to Athens and she asked if you would come by the apartment." Olympia gave her daughter the entire message in one sentence.

"She went alone? Didn't you try to stop her?" Tessa stood quickly.

"Well, dear, it isn't exactly my place--"

"No, it's my place!" Tessa replied. "How did she go?"

"She said she was taking the ferry."

"I'll be back later. Phone me if Meridio gets in today." Tessa called back to her mother.

Olympia smiled as she saw her daughter rush out the door after her lover. Casey stopped by the cook's room to thank the woman and to tell her that she wasn't about to give up on Tessa's heart just yet. She said that she couldn't give details, but she had decided that Tessa belonged to her and she was going to fight for what was hers.

Tessa ran up the wooden steps to the second floor of the apartment building. On the door Casey had tacked a note, it was in the small blonde's hurried scrawl.

T.

I had to go see the travel agent about a trip...meet me there ,

Casey

Is she going back to America? Meet her there...there, where? What in the--oh, shit! Tessa flew down the stairs and took off toward the Center.

Tessa paced back and forth like a caged animal. Jack's office was so small she only took two strides before she had to turn around again.

"Well, I hear you and your girlfriend had a little rift." Jack chuckled as he came through the door.

Sometimes the agent regretted opening his smart mouth...this was definitely one of those times. Tessa body slammed the large man back into the door and held him there in a crossover hold. The fire in the blue eyes turned as pale as ice and Jack was regretting his decision more and more. He often forgot that Tessa wasn't one of those people you teased...about anything.

"Back off, Jack...back way the fuck off!" She growled under her breath, releasing the hold on the larger man.

"Where is she?" The dark-haired woman demanded.

Armstrong crossed the room and opened a door, nodding his head.

"Tessa, meet your new partner." He finished as Casey stepped into the small office.

"NO!" Tessa shouted at the top of her voice. She looked at the big man in amazement. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" She turned her gaze on Casey. "Are you?"

"There's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind." Casey replied.

"Casey, you know what these people are like."

"I think so...I can trust them to keep their word so long as I'm still standing in the same room...or until I become expendable." She enunciated the last word carefully, turning toward Armstrong.

"Now, that hurt." The big man said with a smirk.

"Casey!" Tessa was at a loss for a good argument, except for the fact that the woman she loved could wind up dead this way.

"Niko," Casey stared hard at the woman. "There isn't anything else to say. I suggest we take this topic home so we can talk in private." Casey motioned with her eyes to the man standing next to them.

"This is not over, Jack!" Tessa growled at the man as the two women left the office.

Since both women had a car, Tessa followed Casey back to the apartment. Casey pulled the BMW around to the back garage and Tessa parked on the narrow street. Just as the tall woman was about to get out of the automobile, Casey walked up and leaned her hands on the passenger side of the red convertible.

"As much as I'd love to argue with you, Niko, I'm dead tired. I didn't sleep a wink last night and all I'd really like to do is take a nap."

"Oh, sure." Tessa acknowledged that the small blonde did look pretty wiped out, but she felt like she was being given the brush off. "Here," she scribbled on a piece of paper, "here's my cell phone number. I'll stay at the estate, here tonight, and if you feel like...um, talking...call me."

"Thanks." Casey said, smiled slightly and turned to go into the apartment.

Tessa still sat there after she watched Casey enter the apartment. She was a little thrown by the small blonde's behavior. Casey acted like Tessa was just another friend.

Well what the hell do you think she's going to act like, Niko? You just dumped her a few days ago remember...or did you forget that you chose revenge against Meridio over Casey?

"Ah, hell!" She said aloud and sped off up the hill.

The old grandfather clock in the living area struck eleven and Tessa threw the magazine onto the coffee table. She had been reading the same passage in her favorite sailing magazine for the last three hours. She had concentrated on little else but Casey today. She tried to do a number of little things around the house that she'd been putting off, but soon she would find herself staring into space daydreaming about the small blonde. She felt certain Casey was going to call but so far, no word. The young woman gave her the brush off that much was sure.

Tessa was exasperated and walked over to the patio door and turned the outside lights out. She looked down at the two dogs at her feet. "Looks like we've been stood up." Tessa said.

The dark-haired woman froze at the faint sound of metal ringing against metal. Both animals had their ears turned forward and were growling low in their throat. "I know, I heard it too." Tessa said aloud.

She pulled open the drawer of the china cabinet and removed her Glock pistol. Checking the clip, she silently slid open the patio door and released both of the Dobermans. She waited for a full minute, but heard no sounds that would indicate the dogs had cornered someone. Could have just been the wind, she thought to herself. Damn weird that it happened just when the lights went out, though.

She slipped outside herself and moved around to the back gate, sure the sound had come from that direction. Just as she expected, she saw the silhouette of a figure, small; probably just a kid. Tessa was so focused on sneaking up on the intruder that she lost sight of the dogs. Finally she was within reach. She lifted the gun and pulled back the hammer, pressing it against the back of the stranger's head.

"Don't move or I'll blow your fucking brains out." She hissed.

"Jesus Christ, Niko!" Casey's trembling voice came at Tessa from the darkness.

"Casey?" Tessa finally realized that both dogs were merely sitting at the young woman's feet. Tessa immediately pulled the gun away from the blonde's head.

"Holy shit, Casey, I could have shot you!"

Tessa was breathing hard with the realization of what happened. Without thinking she pulled the small blonde to her and she could feel Casey's arms slip around her waist.

"I thought I'd surprise you." Casey whispered weakly.

"You surprised me allright. I'm so sorry, baby." Tessa replied, kissing the top of the blonde head.

It was as if the estrangement of the past few days didn't exist. Once the two women were locked in an embrace, all the rules of behavior seemed to fly out the window. They held tightly to one another, Casey running her hands up the Karê's muscular back.

"Casey?" Tessa asked.

"Hhmm?" Casey murmured, enjoying the feeling of her lover's arms around her once again.

"What is that sticking me in the ribs?"

"Oh, God!" Casey pulled away and she held out a mashed bouquet of roses. She tried to straighten a few broken stems, but they promptly fell back over. Tessa, in the meantime, was trying very hard not to laugh at the expression on the young woman's face. "They're...for you." Casey finished softly.

Suddenly the blonde looked indignant. She slapped Tessa across the arm with the rumpled flowers. "Why did you turn the lights out on me?"

"Hey," Tessa exclaimed, rubbing her arm, "in case you're not wearing a watch it's after eleven o'clock," Tessa replied. "Frankly, I thought you blew me off."

"I just woke up," Casey admitted sheepishly.

Tessa smiled at the contrite woman. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never had a woman give me flowers before...thank you." Tessa accepted the crumpled bouquet and began to wonder what it all meant. "Do you...want to come inside?" she asked tentatively.

"That was kind of my plan." Casey responded. She slipped her hand into the taller woman's grasp and they went back through the patio door.

Tessa walked out of the kitchen with the roses in a pale blue vase. "I think they came through allright," she said placing the vase on the coffee table.

She had to admit she was a bit nervous. She wasn't sure how Casey wanted to play this. Were they just friends...ex lovers, what? Tessa sat down on the arm of the sofa, bringing her down to the standing woman's level.

"Casey..."

Casey stepped in and slipped her arms around the dark-haired woman's neck, pressing her lips firmly against the stunned Karê's. It was an involuntary reaction for Tessa to pull the young woman closer and moan into the kiss, but it was all the encouragement the small blonde needed. In seconds Tessa was being kissed in a way that brought all her other senses to near shutdown. When they pulled apart to catch their breath, tears filled the taller woman's deep blue eyes, and she reached out to stroke the young woman's cheek.

"Oh, Casey, I'm so sorry...I never meant to hurt you."

"I love you, Niko," Casey brushed her lips lightly against her lover's. "I don't care what's gone on in the past or what will happen in the future. I only know that I love you too much to give you up...I can't...I won't." She added with a fiery green light in her eye.

"Honey, do you know what you're saying? I haven't changed my mind about what I'm going to do."

"Do you mean, do I know that I'm choosing you over my father? Then the answer is yes. I won't live the rest of my live without you, Niko. I feel like I've been living in some sort of limbo for the last twenty years, stuck halfway between being alive and actually living. I know that you're afraid I'll get hurt, or worse, in all of this mess, but I have to do it this way, can't you see? If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to go on. My body might keep going, but my heart would die along with you. I don't want to have to live the rest of my life that way. If anything should happen I want to be with you, Niko. Where you go I go." Casey finished as wet tears rolled across her cheeks.

"I guess the last question is...do you still want me?" Casey asked, not raising her eyes.

Tessa clutched at the smaller woman and held her tightly. She breathed in the scent of her and reveled in the texture of the soft, golden hair against her cheek.

"I should tell you no." Tessa rasped. "I should tell you that I don't love you, that I've just been using you. I should break your heart. Maybe that way you'd pack your things and go back to America. It would kill me to be without you, but at least I'd know that you were safe." Tessa said, placing gentle kisses along the side of Casey's neck and face.

"Forgive me, Casey, but I do want you," Tessa whispered tearfully. "I want you and I need you."

"Then it's settled...lets go to bed." The small blonde whispered into the Karê's ear.

"You've been sleeping all day." Tessa responded, wiping away her lover's tears.

"Sleeping wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Casey smiled up at her lover with a mischievous grin.

Tessa turned out the remaining lights and the two women walked up the stairs arm in arm.

It was an early start for both women the next day. Casey felt like she'd just gone to sleep, but was trying hard to concentrate on everything Jack Armstrong was telling her. He told her what things to look for, memos, invoices, anything with a contact name or country, if it was handwritten, all the better. They already suspected the main suppliers were the Libyans, but until they had the physical proof, InterPol refused to act. By the time they took a break for lunch, Casey's head was swimming.

She and Tessa rode back to the estate to have lunch. Tessa quickly called Olympia to confirm that Meridio was still doing business in Turkey and would probably be gone through the weekend. He didn't seem distressed that Casey went back to Athens once Olympia told him that Tessa accompanied the small blonde.

Tessa scooped up their plates and came back with a wooden box in one hand and a tray of frappés in another. Casey took a sip of the iced coffee as Tessa pushed the wooden box toward her.

"I picked this up this morning while you were with Jack."

"A present ...for me?" Casey said, lifting the lid of the box.

"Well, it's not really that kind of gift." Tessa replied, catching the expression on the young woman's face as she peered inside the box.

"Gee..." Casey hesitated. "A pistol...how romantic."

Tessa smirked at the comment. "I told you it wasn't that kind of a gift. It's a nine-millimeter Beretta Cougar. I want you to carry this from now on. Casey, do you understand?" Tessa asked, noticing the distant look in her lover's eyes.

"It's--I guess I was just thinking that this is the kind of thing that we're fighting against." Casey sat staring at the barrel that wasn't much longer than her hand.

"Well, this one just may save your life someday, so don't knock it. I want you to carry it with you all the time. Keep it loaded, but keep the safety on till you're used to carrying it around."

"Niko, I know this is a small pistol as guns go, but where am I going to carry it?" Casey questioned.

"In your purse." Tessa replied without thinking.

"In case you haven't noticed, I hardly ever carry a purse."

Tessa thought for a moment, "Yea, but you do always have that computer in your hand. How about your laptop? Is there any room inside the case for it?"

"Yea, that'll do." Casey replied.

Tessa spent the rest of their lunch break showing the small blonde how to load and care for the relatively small pistol. It fit perfectly on the inside pocket of the laptop and Casey tucked it away as they prepared to head back over to the Center.

Casey drove the BMW as Tessa played passenger, listening to the blonde's tales of her morning with Jack Armstrong and all that he expected her to remember. The dark-haired woman tried to concentrate on everything her lover was saying, but her thoughts wandered. She hated the idea of Casey wearing a gun. Tessa knew that if she couldn't find a way to reconcile what Meridio did to her father, by the time they found enough evidence for Jack to move in, she would end up doing something that might destroy her relationship with Casey. No matter what the young woman said she felt, Tessa knew in her heart that murdering Meridio might eventually be the wedge that would drive the two lover's apart.

Armstrong spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening drilling Casey on what she'd learned so far. He knew he was being hard on her, but he only had a short amount of time to get the small blonde to start thinking like an agent. Tessa helped, and much to Armstrong's amazement, showed a remarkable amount of patience with the young woman. They went over exactly what they expected Casey to do and what things, under no circumstances, did they want her to attempt. Armstrong explained carefully, mostly for Tessa's benefit, that they weren't working alone now. They were to keep each other informed, no surprises. Jack looked especially long at Tessa after he said that, he knew what a rogue player the dark-haired woman was. He was reminded of the beauty and the beast as Tessa sat, nodding and agreeing with all that the special agent was saying. The small blonde obviously held the power to tame the beast.

The last thing Jack did was to confiscate Casey's laptop. The agent grinned wryly as he handed the young woman her Beretta before turning the computer over to one of the techs from downstairs. He was having an encryption program loaded on Casey's machine. She was to use her regular electronic mail program for all her normal correspondence, but she was to use the special program for conversing with anyone from the Center.

Jack also explained that it wasn't safe for Tessa or Casey to come to the Center any longer. Their communication was to go solely through the e-mail program. The handsome man handed a plane ticket and a bag of brochures to Casey.

"A ticket to France..." Casey commented, fixing a seductive expression on her face she leered up at the man, "Jack, I thought you were married?" She smiled.

"Oh, that's very funny. Geez, you've been hanging around this one too long." He jerked a thumb in Tessa's direction. "You're getting to be just as much of a wise-ass as she is."

That made Tessa smile remembering her first few encounters with Casey in the last couple of weeks. "Hey, I didn't have anything to do with it...she came that way."

"That is a ticket and some travel brochures. Leave them lying in plain sight in your room on Mýkonos. That way if it ever comes back that you were here a couple of times, simply say that you were planning on a little R&R for yourself and someone at the museum mentioned this travel agency."

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 499